


Shield Sisters

by archaeologist_d



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternative Perspective, Canon Compliant, Canon Era, Canon Universe, Canon-Typical Violence, Episode: s01e02 Valiant, Gen, Snakes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-20
Updated: 2020-09-20
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:55:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26329003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/archaeologist_d/pseuds/archaeologist_d
Summary: The snakes had names and lives before becoming trapped in the shield. And they weren’t too happy about Valiant, either. Season 1 episode 2: Valiant.
Comments: 14
Kudos: 27
Collections: Merlin Canon 2020





	Shield Sisters

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Unbetaed. Snakes gotta do what snakes do so if eating mice isn’t your thing, probably shouldn’t read this.

Selene was incensed. Enid and Sybil were just frozen there, seemingly oblivious to their fate, looking for all the world to see as mere images on metal. But they were better than that.

Once they’d had lives. Once they’d been free.

Now, they were only made manifest into their true selves when magic called, not paint on a shield but living serpents, capable of death and destruction.

But Selene remembered the good times, too, before it all went to hell. The sensation of sun warming them, the sumptuous glide of shedding skin, the squirm of voles and mice in her throat as she gulped them down whole.

It would have been a good life if the sorcerer hadn’t captured them, merging them into some kind of weapon from which there was no escape.

Now, that scoundrel, Valiant, possessor of the shield, shameful seeker of sorcery and their lives, treated them as nothing but dirt. He hadn’t fed them in days. What Selene wouldn’t do for a succulent mouse, squirming, shrieking, slipping into her throat, trying to scramble out of her until it died, leaving a satisfying supper in her stomach. 

Instead, all she could do was hiss in disgust that they were mere scrawls on a shield until that despised Valiant decided to let them slither through the grass again. She thought about maybe sinking her long teeth into that white throat, pumping venom into him as he shrieked and tried to scramble away. After all, he’d killed their last owner, using Enid’s fangs to slash into that delicious flesh, lucky girl, and they hadn’t had a satisfying feast since. 

Trapped in that damnable shield, they were stuck fast as Valiant just went on and on about how he was going to kill some prince, steal the gold, and then go off in splendid style and live in sumptuous splendour.

As if any of them cared. All they wanted was freedom, the feel of soft grass under their skin again, the exciting search for swarms of struggling mice to swallow down.

Instead, they were ordered to kill humans too stupid to understand about Selene and her sisters. Men with swords, always too big to swallow whole when they were done. A stab of their poisonous fangs and back into the shield for the next act of sabotage.

Such a waste of venom. It was all too frustrating.

And so, it went on and on until one day, some scrawny sycophant of Valiant’s hatred, some boy called Merlin or idiot or something just as ridiculous, killed Sybil. In front of both Enid and herself. This sallow-faced horror sliced off Sybil’s head and slunk away with it, hissing to himself that he was going to tell the prince about the sorcery and the shield.

Selene could do nothing. The murderer of her sister had been too swift for vengeance. She could only hope that Valiant would use his power to let her go free, long enough that she might sink her fangs into that scrawny Merlin and watch him squirm out his death before she turned on Valiant.

But alas, it was not to be.

Instead, outside once again, the tournament’s horn sounded, the battle begun, and instead of facing Merlin, Valiant was going after another stupid sword-wielder, the prince or someone important.

Selene waited, not that she had any choice, but then she could feel the power coursing through her, setting her free from the shield. She and Enid dropped to the ground. Valiant was there, screeching something about not summoning them. But as they slithered by his feet, the sun at last warming their skin, Valiant commanded them to attack the sword-swinging human.

Selene struggled to comply, wanting to kill Valiant first, but his command was too strong. As she reared up, something sharp cut across her throat.

Searing pain, her mind telling her to squirm away and hide, but instead her head bounced on the rough gravel, the rest of her writhing under Valiant’s feet.

She couldn’t breathe, agony still world-shattering, but in her last moments as her world turned dark, she saw the sword thrust into Valiant’s chest. He sank down, his eyes glazing over in death.

If she had to die, at least he was dying too. 

Vengeance could be sweet even now. And more importantly, she was finally free.

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Merlin characters are the property of Shine and BBC. No profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.


End file.
